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Mike in NJ

June 4, 2014 at 10:41 am

Byrd: IMO the most likely Phiilie to be traded pre-July 31st, especially with Burnett and Lee being big injury question marks at the moment. Decent player we might actually get something of value for, especially if we eat a couple million of the contract.

Brown: Who the f*&% would trade for him the way he’s playing?!? Barely hitting .200, can’t track a fly ball, and waaay too lackadaisical both in the field and on the bases.

Mayberry: I didn’t know the Sox need a RH bench player, but even if they are interested in Mayberry, we’re not getting of value anything for him. IMO he’s more likely to stay and get more time in RF after they trade Byrd, especially with Ruf being hurt again.

If I were another team I would be at least asking about Brown, to see if I could buy low and get a former top prospect without giving up much, and see if either a change of scenery or different coaching might turn him into Brandon Moss 2. The risk is minimal, and the reward could be huge.

Phillies don’t really have any incentive to trade Brown. If he were making $4M a year or something, then yeah, part of the fire sale to reduce payroll. Whatever scrub they have in AAA they’d replace Brown with is going to be making almost as much as Brown. Besides, I still think Ruin is desperate to be proven right for all those times he refused to trade Brown in the past.

We’re back to agreeing with each other – which I prefer since you always make strong arguments.

I can’t help but wonder whether the Tigers would show interest. While their weakest outfield position is probably center field and not a great fit for Dom, their hitting coach happens to be a a fellow named Wally Joyner.

As horrific as Dom’s numbers are this year, you can’t have a spectacular month in this league without having the raw talent and potential. A good day or series can be a fluke, but not a good month is pushing it.

Still, the classic advice of Branch Rickey comes into play. Better to sell a year early than a year too late. In Dom’s case, I can’t fault the Phillies for hoping but in 20-20 hindsight he should have been on the block in the off-season. Rumors persisted to that effect at the time. Maybe they couldn’t get quite the deal for Brown they hoped for during the winter meetings. Sadly, his worth now is probably zilch compared to what it was last June. But yeah, I’m sure some smart team with a good hitting coach would love to take an inexpensive chance on him. Perhaps the Phillies should be spelunking through Detroit’s farm system rather than the Red Sox system.

A smart team might just pull off a steal – and it’s probably Dom’s only chance to approach those early aspirations.

John helped his trade value tonight by hitting a homerun off of Strasburg. Not sure what he will bring and not sure why he isn’t starting considering the alternative of Brown and Revere. Don’t lose hope. Remember the Red Sox were terrible in 2012 and the Giants and Brewers were terrible in 2013.

We need to be smart about how we trade and who we get in return. There in is the problem.
The people making those decisions haven’t been doing a very good job. So until we get better at this I’m afraid any trade they make won’t help much.

That’s the conundrum. The guy responsible for putting together the worst team that money can buy is now the same guy who is now in charge of trying to fix it. They really need someone from outside the organization to come in and clean house.

“A Phillies sell-off, on the other hand, might actually be bleaker than how they’re playing now, because they don’t really have movable pieces, and there really isn’t a core they’d be adding to.

Jimmy Rollins is 35 years old and having a good season, but he’s about 200 plate appearances from having an $11 million vesting option kick in for 2015, which greatly diminishes whatever trade value he has. Carlos Ruiz, 35, could interest some team looking for catching, but he’s owed about $20 million. Ryan Howard is owed about $75 million and is hitting .226 and is unmovable; like a lot of others on the Phillies’ roster, he’s got a staggering option buyout, of $10 million. Marlon Byrd is hitting fine but is owed $8 million for 2015 and a vesting option for 2016.

Cliff Lee is on the disabled list with elbow trouble and hasn’t been able to start a throwing program. Chase Utley is playing great, but he has become the Cal Ripken Jr. of this organization, something to offer a fan base that is staying away in increasing numbers, and given the sentimentality that has infected a lot of the team’s decision-making in recent years, it’s hard to imagine the Phillies ever moving him.

Some in the organization recommended that the Phillies trade Domonic Brown last fall, long before his early 2014 slide — and Brown might have some trade value.”